Week One 2024 – The Week That Was

glenmckenzie(justabitfurther)

Jan 6

Well, we've made it more or less through the first week of 2024. Not that anything spectacular happened here at the "old homestead."

It was pretty much like any other week for that matter.

But often, aren't weeks like that?

Nothing spectacular happens much. We get up; go to work for four or five days in a row; come home; cook dinner; do something or nothing in the evening and then the weekend shows up; we do those two days and then we repeat the process over again.

Sure there are those times when something spectacular happens. "Spectacular" can happen at any moment. It could be happening to you right now as you're reading this. The use of the word spectacular in my mind is the message of good or exciting. Which is .........good and exciting. We all like that type of spectacular.

On the other hand, bad, awful, or traumatic can also happen at any time in any given week. Those ones aren't so much fun.

Looking back on this week though, I happened to "dodge a tiny bullet."

On Tuesday I wrote a post about "passing on going to a meeting." On Wednesday, I spoke with a couple of folks who did happen to show up. It went like this........... the meeting started at 8:10am and by 8:45am, the meeting was over, and people were back in their cars - done for the day. Materials needed for the meeting never showed up...so no meeting.

I would have driven the best part of an hour each way for a 35-minute meeting. No thanks.

I did find that coming back to work for three days after having two weeks off during the Christmas break was and let's call it for what it was - depressing as fu@k.

I will admit, it did get better Thursday and Friday after I negotiated not having to drive so much. I'm working out of the elementary and high school in our local community for the next five days. I worked there three days this week. That cuts 75 to 90 minutes out of my work day - bonus.

Unfortunately, I still do find that my anxiety issues are still there to a minor degree on the days when I have to work.

I'm not entirely sure why it pops up and rears its head when it goes to work. I am good at it, and I know what I have to do for the most part when situations do occur.

I think the issue is the anticipation or the chance is there for something to occur which goes from a slight and minor issue to a very difficult and challenging situation immediately. It's the "what if" factor.

When I retired in June 2022 and we moved here to Nova Scotia from Ontario, I had thought about part-time work, but only a passing thought at best. The first five or six months looking back were a whirlwind adventure of setting up our house here and figuring out how to get from "here to there." Those months were "spectacular" so to speak.

It seems that after I started this part-time casual gig with our regional school board back in March, the unsettledness started.

One of the many reasons I retired early(a year early) was to get away from a job that in many ways was a slow mental and emotional wellness death. That job affected in mental and emotional health in ways that were just not good, In fact, downright unhealthy. Experiencing major anxiety issues every shift; panic attacks; and depression and those are the things just off the top of my head.

Once I finished work on that June day in 2022, those issues didn't arise again. I was like a new person. I felt better; more confident and had a whole better view of life and how to live it.

Now I'm experiencing somewhat similar symptoms once again. Not to the same extent, but the same type of deal.

Anyhow, this post has gone a long way off track from something that was just to be "the week that was." However, perhaps delve more into this "work anxiety thing" in a subsequent post or two. Maybe tomorrow?

Today though(which is still technically part of this week), we're heading off to a farmers market in Moncton about an hour and a half way in the province of New Brunswick. Now, it does seem like a "Gee- that's a long way to go to buy eggs and homemade bread - kind of moment."

Hard to argue that - but if we were to drive to the nearest one in Nova Scotia, it would take us more or less the same amount of time.

There you go - the week that was. Only 51 more weeks to go.

--as always with love--

--- get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself ---